​JP Morgan home loan whistleblower gets $64 mn reward

The JP Morgan whistleblower who revealed the bank's flawed home loans scandal is being given a $64 million reward. The bank was fined $614 million for the debacle.

Keith Edwards worked for JP Morgan from 2003 to 2008, and was an
assistant vice president supervising a government insuring unit.

The tips he provided to the US government made the bank to admit
in a February 4th settlement, that in more than a decade it
submitted thousands of unqualified government guarantee mortgages
for insurance by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

The reward to Keith Edward consists of $56.5 million for the FHA
portion and $7.4 million for the VA.

Evictions and foreclosures nationwide, resulted after the bank's
loans went sour, and forced the government to pay millions of
dollars to cover losses.

"There were a lot of bad loans made during the financial
boom, and the United States taxpayer was left holding the bag
through the VA and FHA loan programs," Edwards' lawyer,
David Wasinger, told Reuters. "Hopefully the settlement sends
a message to Wall Street that this conduct is not allowed, and
that in the future it will be held accountable."

Wasinger had represented Edward O'Donnell, whose information
proved Bank of America’s role in defective mortgage misselling
which came to light in October 2013. The case is ongoing and the
government is seeking a $2.1 billion fine.

Whistleblower assistance is widespread in the US Justice
Department practice. Between 2009 and 2013 whistleblowers have
been paid $1.98 billion for their cooperation with the
government.